Chinese Chicken Salad, what to use, what to avoid?

Making salad for a dozen for dinner later this week. What indgredients do you use? Lettuce or cabbage? Celery, peppers, bean sprouts? Snow peas, edamame? Fried noodle or Fried won ton pi? Peanuts, cashews? Cilantro or do too many people dislke it?

Ginger chicken? Teriyaki chicken? I'm leaning towards ginger chicken.

Dressing: Vinegar base, peanut sauce base, plum sauce base? I'm thinking of using a combination of mirim and plum sauce with a touch of sesame oil and sesame seeds.

I would use plain chicken. Let your dressing be the flavor agent. Yesterday I used the method of bringing water to a boil, then shutting off the stove to let the chicken gently cook. The recipe is in China Moon cookbook by Barbara Tropp but I have also seen it elsewhere. The water was flavored with scallion, Schezchuan peppers and ginger but I didn't think it flavored the chicken very much.

I would offer a bowl of cilantro on the side. My husband hates the taste. I love it. The link posted looks like a good recipe. Must have sesame oil!

I like just about everything in a salad, but I think crunch is important in a Chinese chicken salad. I would include sliced celery, a little shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, and dried garlic to sprinkle over the top with scallions for crunch.

...snow peas and colorful sliced peppers....mmmmm....ginger and sesame dressing...mmmm......what time is dinner? ;)

I agree for me it's the crunch and the sesame oil. I usually prefer to use shredded cabbage for the crunch but scallions would be a nice addition as well. I might stay away from peanuts unless you know there aren't any allergic at the table and also I find they overwhelm what I love about most Chinese chicken salads.

came down with a cold so i figured maybe a raw salad that i had been breathing all over while i chopped and cut wasn't the best choice. going with teri chicken, rice and potato/mac salad instead. will let you know what i end up doing in september.